By Gerald Kennedy and Suzanne Muna
The 2024 Renters Reform Bill is still making its way through Parliament, with suggested amendments from campaign groups. The new law is often referred to as ‘Awaab’s Law’ after the death of toddler Awaab Ishak from the toxic effects of damp and mould. The new provisions, we understand, have been been drafted by housing charity Shelter. During the consultation phase, Government said of the law:
“Everyone deserves to live in a home that is decent, safe and secure. Awaab’s Law, which was introduced in the landmark Social Housing Regulation Act 2023, requires landlords to investigate and fix reported health hazards within specified timeframes … The new rules will form part of a tenancy agreement, so that tenants can hold landlords to account by law if they fail to provide a decent home.”
Introductory statement: Awaab’s Law consultation
In February 2024, SHAC made a submission to the Parliamentary Scrutiny Committee. Our submission highlighted that:
“The enforcement route proposed for the tenant would be for breach of contract against the landlord, which would entail lengthy court proceedings (and associated delay) in the County Court, with associated costs … “
SHAC Submission to the Parliamentary Scrutiny Committee
Such costs for example would include paying for an expert report at around £400 to £600, and if the tenant or resident was unable to secure Legal Aid, solicitors fees would need to be added. The landlord after all would be legally represented with their expert witness, barrister and solicitors. The tenant or resident would also need to find over £300 to cover court fees. We concluded in summary that access to justice is hugely problematic for our members.
Since making representations to government, SHAC has held preliminary meetings with Shelter to explore areas of common interest and we hope to hold further meetings in the future. However, there remain inconsistencies between campaign groups relating to analysis of the new legislation.
The Renters Reform Coalition (RRC), for example, welcomed the new Act in its current form and the demand on government was to extend the provisions from social housing to private landlords with:
“Mediated rent pauses for serious disrepair – we recommend the introduction of a new legal right to pause rent payments where a landlord fails to carry out essential repairs within a defined timeline. This would support the intention behind extending Awaab’s law to the private rented sector.”
Renters Reform Coalition: A Roadmap for Reform
The RRC has now conceded SHAC’s point that Awaab’s Law is effectively unenforceable because of funding issues such as the County Court fee, Legal Aid contributions, and the fact that any tenant with rent arrears may not be able to get past the first County Court hearing. Shelter, however, is still to respond officially on these points.
SHAC believes that Awaab’s Law effectively attempts to transfer enforcement responsibility from local authorities to individual tenants, who will encounter well-resourced housing association landlords and with no overall prospect of success. We strongly believe by contrast that councils should be the primary enforcers of housing legislation on non-compliant conditions and that the evidence on ‘contracting out’ by councils, requires immediate Government intervention.
Our position was vindicated by the data recently released by Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) and Billion Media, who have given a national breakdown of the lack of prosecutions by councils and of private landlords (including housing associations) since 2018. This demonstrates serious council non-compliance nationally.
The PIL research reported that 252 councils responded to their request for data within deadline. Of these, 115 councils (46%) confirmed that they had not carried out any landlord prosecutions for disrepairs between April 2019 to March 2024. Around 49 councils only prosecuted a solitary landlord. The report goes on to say:
“Most prosecutions related to a failure to adhere to prohibition notices or breaches of regulations regarding Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs). In some cases, landlords were penalised in court for harassment or for illegally evicting tenants.”
PIL: Research Into Landlord Prosecutions In Britain
In their defence, some local authorities have argued that the law acts as a deterrent and formal prosecutions have not therefore been necessary. The evidence does not however support this claim. Indeed, PIL reports a 4% increase in complaints to councils, yet the National Residential Landlords Association shows that landlords have felt confident in ignoring legal threats:
“Less than half of the fines issued against rogue landlords between 2021 and 2023 had been collected”.
NRLA: Report reveals councils’ shocking failure to tackle rogue landlords
The group of Public Interest Lawyers conclude – as SHAC has done – that there is not an absence of willingness to prosecute landlords, but of ability to do so. In other words, the new legislation has done nothing to address the enforcement crisis when it comes to substandard housing.
All SHAC members are encouraged to check the PIL website for their own council’s prosecution record and lobby their individual MPs to make this issue centre stage. Keep up to date with SHAC’s campaigns on disrepairs through our dedicated Disrepairs web page.
16 December 2024
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